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Smash vs Squash - What's the difference?

smash | squash |

As nouns the difference between smash and squash

is that smash is the sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together while squash is a sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.

As verbs the difference between smash and squash

is that smash is to break (something brittle) violently while squash is to beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.

smash

English

Noun

(smashes)
  • The sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.
  • I could hear the screech of the brakes, then the horrible smash of cars colliding.
  • (British, colloquial) A traffic accident.
  • The driver and two passengers were badly injured in the smash .
  • (colloquial, entertainment) Something very successful.
  • This new show of mine is sure to be a smash .
  • * 2012 , Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph , 15 November 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world]
  • Soundcheck for the band, today, takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It is late afternoon and while the arena's 17,000 outdoor seats are still empty the four members of Mumford & Sons – prospering British folk band, in the middle of a long tour of Australia, the US and the UK, their newly released album Babel a smash on all fronts – wander to centre stage.
  • (tennis) A very hard overhead shot hit sharply downward.
  • A smash may not be as pretty as a good half volley, but it can still win points.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=July 3 , author=Piers Newbury , title=Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=A Nadal forehand into the net gave Djokovic the set and the Spaniard appeared rattled, firing a smash over the baseline in a rare moment of promise at 30-30 at the start of the third.}}
  • (colloquial, archaic) bankruptcy
  • Synonyms

    * (sound of a violent impact ): crash * (colloquial: traffic accident ): crash * (colloquial: something very successful ): smash hit

    Verb

    (es)
  • To break (something brittle) violently.
  • * 1895 , , (The Time Machine) , Chapter X
  • Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.
  • To hit extremely hard.
  • (figuratively) To ruin completely and suddenly.
  • (figuratively) To defeat overwhelmingly.
  • (US) To deform through continuous pressure.
  • To be destroyed by being smashed.
  • (transitive, slang, vulgar, of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.
  • Synonyms

    * (break violently ): dash, shatter * (hit extremely hard ): pound, thump, wallop * (ruin completely and suddenly ): dash * (defeat overwhelmingly ): slaughter, trounce * (be destroyed by being smashed ): shatter

    Anagrams

    * English ergative verbs ----

    squash

    English

    (wikipedia squash)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) squachen, from (etyl) esquasser, + .

    Noun

    (wikipedia squash)
  • (uncountable) A sport played in a walled court with a soft rubber ball and bats like tennis racquets.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=, title=“Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=3/19/2 citation
  • , passage=Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash -racket against a wall.}}
  • (British) A soft drink made from a fruit-based concentrate diluted with water.
  • When I'm thirsty I drink squash ; it tastes much nicer than plain water.
  • A place or a situation where people have limited space to move.
  • It's a bit of a squash in this small room.
  • (obsolete, countable) Something soft and easily crushed; especially, an unripe pod of peas.
  • (obsolete, countable, pejorative) Something unripe or soft.
  • (obsolete, countable) A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies.
  • Derived terms
    * squashable * squash ball * squash court * squash player * squash racket
    See also
    * racketball

    Verb

    (es)
  • To beat or press into pulp or a flat mass; to crush.
  • (intransitive) To compress or restrict (oneself) into a small space; to squeeze.
  • Somehow, she squashed all her books into her backpack, which was now too heavy to carry.
    We all managed to squash into Mum's tiny car.
    Derived terms
    * squash up * squashy * squish

    Etymology 2

    Shortening of askutasquash , (etyl) ("[a vegetable] eaten green (or raw)"). (Cucurbita)

    Noun

  • (countable) A plant and its fruit of five species of the genus Cucurbita , or gourd kind.
  • # Cucurbita maxima , including , and some varieties of pumpkins.
  • # .
  • # Cucurbita moschata , butternut squash, .
  • # Cucurbita pepo , most pumpkins, acorn squash, summer squash, zucchini.
  • #
  • The edible or decorative fruit of these plants, or this fruit prepared as a dish.
  • We ate squash and green beans.
    Derived terms
    * ) * (Coreidae) * opo squash (Lagenaria spp. ) * winter squash * summer squash

    Etymology 3

    shortening of musquash

    Noun

    (es)
  • (obsolete, zoo, countable) Muskrat.
  • * Dampier
  • The squash is a four-footed beast, bigger than a cat.
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